


Secret To Hold

by DragonLover19



Series: Rolling Dice [2]
Category: Cuphead (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-05
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2019-04-18 22:22:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14223048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonLover19/pseuds/DragonLover19
Summary: Chips wasn't sure what was going on. He could tell that something was up.But what was it?





	Secret To Hold

Chips didn’t have much of an interesting story when it came to his past and how he winded up working at the casino. He considered himself to be the more honest type of person in the place, if not a little straightforward with his words on account. 

A little too straightforward as he was told.

Well he couldn’t help it. He was as honest as he was the sharpest shot on the whole isle. When he had his whole body put together. He admit that it wasn’t fun with lust the stack of his head that was usually used for work to make sure things were going smoothly and that there weren’t any cheaters in any of the games while his whole body was spread out to the other tables.

But it didn’t matter too much. Since he could just summon his body back to him whenever he wanted, it wasn’t a bother to worry if any of his pieces got lost. Though, it did help that King Dice’s cards always kept their extra eyes out just in case. He had been at the casino a long time to spot those cards in various places that people couldn’t notice they so easily. It was like a game to him when he needed some time to pass on his break.

Being a stack of poker chips had more than one advantage. Many did not know this, but Chips was an excellent listener. Since his special connection to his body made it easy for him to split apart and put himself back together again, it also gave him the ability to listen in on conversations. It was a skill that not many had but he was one of the lucky one to have it. It was fun to listen in on someone’s hushed conversation when they had no idea that someone could be listening in on it.

He found this useful to get information that could of use to the boss or King Dice. Since no one knew about it he was in the safe.

“ ** _HEY CHIPS!_** ”

Chips let out a loud yelp, his ears ringing in pain. Oh, that’s right. Not everyone was unaware of his special gift. It was a good thing he wasn’t in the middle of a game that needed his attendance. Hopping off the board, he summoned the rest of his body together, becoming tall as King Dice with a few poker chips shorter than him, and fully dressed in his cowboy getup.

Grumbling, he stomped his feet lightly, not wanting to attract any attention to himself, over to the corner where the smiling couple were seated on their swing. He wasn’t sure how they found out about his little secret, and they wouldn’t tell him no matter how much he probed or asked them. They didn’t bother to use it against him unless they wanted something from him. He wouldn’t have put up with it if he wasn’t a small bit of a nice guy.

Knowing them, they either had something to tell him that they couldn’t tell King Dice himself, or maybe wanting to chat with him when the casino was on a rare slow day. Seeing that there was a glint in their eyes, it couldn’t be the case of just normal chatting or something to relay to their manager.

“Is there somethin’ you want to tell me? It better be important.” He glared at the two, not amused by their antics. “An’ didja have to yell so loud?”

“We wanted to be sure we got your attention.” Dot smiled devilishly, seemly happy to cause some pain on him.

“I would have heard ya just fine.” Chips huffed. “Now what is it? I’m off break in a few minutes, so you better tell what you needed to say.”

“It’s not we have anything to say. We just wanted to ask you something.” Pip grinned, not in a way that spelled mischief like his wife, but in a more eager glint.

“Well.” Chips folded his arms across his chest, his earlier irritation slipping down with some curiosity.

“Have noticed anything strange going on with Mr. King Dice?” Pip asked, his wife failing to stifle a few giggles.

Chips looked at them, confused beyond anything. He cast a quick glance behind him at King Dice, who was busy over viewing a card game at one of the tables. He seemed normal enough in his eyes. Relaxed, confident, same old King Dice style Chips always saw him as. “No. He looks normal.”

“Wha—?! Seriously?!” Dot exclaimed. “We’re not talking about his _looks_! We’re talking about how he’s been _acting_ lately.”

“A sneaky cheat and a lair?”

“No! … Well, yeah he still is.”

“We mean the way he’s acting towards a certain lady.” Pip clarified, his eyes wandering to a certain direction.

Chips followed his gaze, eyes landing on the stage where Pirouletta was dancing. The band was in full swing as Chips could see she was giving it her all. It had been a while since he last saw her dance, she looked happy being up there and showing off her skills.

“Now hang on a minute.” He looked between the stage to the table King Dice sat at. “You two can’t be seriously sayin’ that King Dice has a thing for Pirouletta. That’s ludicrous. Not ta mention downright silly.” Chips shook his head, ignoring the glares that were aimed his way. “King Dice can be a bit of a player, but he ain’t someone who would get in a serious relationship. He don’t swing that way.”

“You sure about that?” Pip huffed. “Cause what we can see—”

“PIP! DOT!” Chips flinched as the couple stiffened. “What are you lot doin’?! Your break ended five minutes ago! Get back to work! Pronto! Same for you Chips!”

The three let out a synced _‘Yes Sir!’_ and hurried back to their respected jobs, dismissing their conversation from their minds entirely for the rest of the day.

_X_

More than a week later had passed, and by then he had forgotten his whole conversation with Pip and Dot. It was his off day, so Chips was taking his sweat time to enjoy it while it lasted before heading back to work tomorrow. He didn’t mind working, but it was good to enjoy being in his full body without parts of him all over the place. The back area behind the casino was a nice place to sneak off too to have a couple of cigars.

Smoke rolled off his tongue as he puffed out a thick stream of smoke. He was lucky that Wheezy had plenty of packs around. It was easy to swipe a case from him and have a few rounds. Chips was even sure that he could swipe more from him without even a sweet.

But even all peaceful moments didn’t last long in a place like this.

“ _HEY CHIPS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!_ ”

Chips was sure he almost had a heart attack. Curling the cigarette in his grasp, Chips swung his arm around, hitting whoever yelled _directly in his ear_ right in the eye. Only regretting moments later as Hopus Pocus reeled back with a yowl of pain.

“OH LANDSAKES! Hops! I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

“NO! I THINK I’VE GONE _BLIND_ IN MY EYE!”

Chips flinched. He hadn’t meant to harm Hopus. He wasn’t that sort of person who harmed his friends or colleges. Even to his closer bonded buddies.

“AND WORSE! I THINK I’M GOING BLIND IN THE OTHER EYE TOO!”

“Oh gosh… Did I hit you in the other eye too?”

“… NAAAAA!” Hopus waved one hand away, taking the other hand that covered his injured eye off. “It’s Fine Buddy! A Little Magic Always Comes In Handy!” The large rabbit leaned forward, showing off his eyes that were, in his case of chaos and insanity, perfectly normal.

Chips sighed in relief. “Always one fer the dramatic huh buddy?” He cracked a smile as Hopus pulled away with a laugh. “What are you doin’ here anyway? This ain’t normally your time to take a break.”

“I Told King Dice I Needed A Bathroom Break! But That Was A Lie! I Wanted To See How You Were Doing!”

“You don’t need to keep checking on me every time I get a day off Hops. I got enough of ya at work to worry ‘bout.”

Hopus threw his head back, laughing his usual laugh. “YEAH! I’m Sure King Dice Has Enough Of Me Today Too!”

Chips frowned. “What’d mean?”

“I Accidentally Whacked His Head Off!”

“You **_WHAT?!_** ” Chips practically screamed.

“Yeah! Something Went Wrong With One Of My Tricks! My Wand Must Be On The Brinks Or Something But Anyway! While I Was Casting A Spell To Make Some Cards Dance, I Spotted Gold Girl—”

“Pirouletta, Hops. She prefers ta be called by her real name.”

“Yeah! Gold Girl! Anyway, I Saw Her Going By And I Started Waving At Her! Like This!” Hopus took out his wand, waving it around like crazy that sparks started coming out at the end.

“A-AH! O-K! Let’s, _not_ repeat the same mistake here.” Chips quickly grabbed the arm, stopping it just in time before anything could happen. Just like from all the other past experiences. He didn’t want flowers growing out of his nose again. “Then what happened?”

“Oh! Well, I Must Of Fired By Accident And Wouldn’t You Know It! It Started Ricocheting All Over The Room! It Was Like A Fireworks Show! Only Indoors And More Dangerous! HA! And Then It Hit King Dice Hit On The Head And It Went Shooting Off! I Think It Landed On a Two! I’m Not Sure! I Left Screaming That I Needed To Use The Bathroom! But That Was A Lie! I Only Said That So I Could Escape King Dice’s Wrath! It Was Pretty Funny Though!”

“Uh, Hops—” Was all he said before a pair of white gloves grabbed both ends of Hopus Pocus’s red bow tie and pulled. The white rabbit’s head inflated like a balloon, his eyes bulging out with his cheeks gaining a shine to them.

“ _Funny_ , eh?” King Dice growled under his breath, pulling harder at Hopus’ tie. “Oh I’m sure it was jus’ _hilarious_ seein’ your _manager’s_ head flyin’ off their body. But not as funny as turin’ yer **_head into a balloon_**!”

Chips cringed as King Dice pulled Hopus’s tie tight, constricting the poor magician. He wasn’t sure if King Dice would ever stop till Hopus was dead or until his head popped. Whichever came first.

But it didn’t seem to be the case as Pirouletta came by. “Стоп! Keeng Deece! Стоп!” She tugged his hands away from Hopus Pocus. The rabbit’s head deflated to its normal size, gasping as air rushed back in his lungs. Chips was glad his friend was alright, even more lucky that Pirouletta was there to save him.

His eyes drifted to Pirouletta, who was speaking to their manager in a low voice. Whatever it was, he couldn’t hear it, but it must have been something good. A moment later, King Dice sighed, rubbing his face a little. “Alright Pocus. Yer off the hook. _For now._ ”

Hopus face split into a wide grin, which quickly dashed when King Dice plucked his wand out of his hand. “But no magic for two weeks, ya hear?” And with that, the Devil’s right hand man turned and left, leaving Chips to deal with his crying friend.

_X_

On and off Chips noticed things that he hadn’t seen before. One being how someone tried to cheat in one of the machine games twice in a row, and another was catching someone who was band from the casino. But when it came down with his colleges, he was usually the first to notice if anything was different about them.

A few ties he caught Mr. Wheezy snatching money from peoples pockets when they weren’t looking, Pip and Dot shared a few drinks with the Tipsy Troop on break and were slightly buzzed which effected their work. Mangosteen failed to ‘predict’ a customer’s move at pool and Phear Lap was having a busy day at the racing ring.

But, peculiar enough, he noticed King Dice hanging around Pirouletta’s area of work. Usually he went to where patrons were winning, but lately he’d been around Pirouletta’s area of work more often. He still was at work, but many times Chips spotted him staring off, looking towards the golden ballerina. Even in a middle of a game.

This wasn’t normal for him to act this way. Chips wasn’t sure what was on their manager’s mind, though he did recall that certain incident not long ago with a drunk customer flirting with Pirouletta. And what happened afterwards later. He still didn’t believe the rumors about Pirouletta hitting King Dice. There was no way she could have done it. She was too kind of a person to do such a thing, even if she was angry at him.

So, was he just making sure that an incident like that didn’t happen again? Or was he planning something else? His thought’s drifted to his conversation with Pip and Dot. But he shook it off.

King Dice was probably planning something.

_X_

It was the end of his shift when he saw it.

This week he had the night hours off, so he was heading to his room in the back area of the casino. His joints were sore and he was more tired than a jack rabbit dancing over the moon. He was more than ready to hit the hay and call it a night.

But when he rounded the corner, he stopped, backing up a bit. He didn’t know why he felt the need to hide, but what he was seeing clouded his mind. There with his hand leaning on the wall was King Dice himself, chatting away with Pirouletta. He was too far to hear what King Dice was saying, nor could he fathom why he would be back here chatting away with Pirouletta when his shift wasn’t done yet.

But that dashed from his mind when King Dice planted a kiss on Pirouletta’s cheek. He almost let out a yelp of shock if he hadn’t covered his mouth quickly and hid. He didn’t believe what he just saw. King dice kissing Pirouletta on the cheek? No way! It had to be some sort of joke!

“Cheeps?” Chips let out a yelp this time, looking over at Pirouletta. When did she get here? Did she hear him? “Vhat are you doeeng?” Her look of concern would have put some ease on his worries if King Dice hadn’t peered behind the corner and fixed a glare at him. Chips knew that King Dice wasn’t a fool. He probably knew that Chips had seen him kissing Pirouletta on the cheek.

“Well, uh.” He felt uneasy under that glare. On other times he could stand up to it and not fall under such piercing gaze but not this time. “I, um… stubbed my toe!” He lifted his right foot up, diverting their attention to the limb. “Wasn’t watchin’ where I was going n’ all. The next thing I knew.” He hit the wall with the side of his foot. “Surprised me a bit, but I’m fine. Anyway, what are ya’ll doing?”

There was a small hint of red on Pirouletta’s cheeks and King Dice coughed into his hand. “Talkin’.” King Dice mumbled an answer.

“About?” Chips didn’t want to press on. He just wanted out of this awkward situation and head to bed.

“Vork. Vath else?” Pirouletta huffed, crossing her arms. “Speekeeng of vork. My sheeft starts soon. Спокойной ночи.” With that she went off. Chips waved as she vanished behind the corner. Once she was gone, his bravery kicked in. Pirouletta was like a sister to him. If anyone messed with her they had him to deal with. He turned to King Dice, and every ounce of bravery he had dashed when he saw those eyes glaring down at him.

“Now listen closely. I’m only gonna say this once so listen up ya hear? What ya saw stays in that little mind of yours. Ya don’t tell a peep or word or nothin’ ta nobody. Not even the boss. If ya do, yer gonna be one sorry stake of poker chips. Got it?” Chips shook his head very fast. “Good. Now scram.”

He didn’t need to be told twice as he hurried to his room, locking the door behind him and jumping into bed. Sleep didn’t come easy for him over the next couple of days.


End file.
